It's a short week for the Carolina Panthers as they look to rebound from an embarrassing loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 43-13 decimation of the Panthers is raising major questions on both sides of the ball, especially the defense.
As in Week 1 against the Bears, the run defense was atrocious, allowing Tampa Bay was able to score 43 points despite Baker Mayfield throwing for just 64 passing yards.
As for the offense, Bryce Young, Chuba Hubbard, Tetairoa McMillan, and the rest of the roster performed poorly. Despite losing to the Detroit Lions in Week 7, the Packers have played at a high level for the last three weeks.
From a Fantasy Football perspective, Carolina faces another tough test, as the Packers are a top-10 to top-12 fantasy defense in the NFL. That said, Carolina can still put together decent performances. Here are the Week 8 projections for fantasy-relevant Panthers.
Bryce Young
Coming off his worst game of the season, Bryce Young should be able to improve on his three-turnover performance. Against the Buccaneers, Young posted just over 5 fantasy points. Now going up against the Packers, don't expect a game-breaking performance, but an average or slightly below average game.
The Packers' defense ranks fifth against QBs this season, which should make fantasy managers a reason to hesitate to start Young on Thursday night. Even so, Young has still posted over 19 points in four of Carolina's six games; he's clearly more reliable than he has been in years past.
Final projection: 15.7
Chuba Hubbard
Unlike Bryce Young, Hubbard faces a favorable fantasy matchup this week. While the Packers' defense overall ranks in the top half of the league overall, it's currently 27th to 28th against running backs.
This doesn't mean that individually Hubbard will go off on his own, but there's certainly a chance he scores the most points among the Panthers this week.
Hubbard is Carolina's safest starter and has been all season. Through six games, Hubbard hasn't scored fewer than 10 points. That trend won't end on Thursday night, Hubbard is still a high end RB2
Final Projection: 16.4
Tetairoa McMillan & Jalen Coker
Another matchup that should be somewhat favorable. Both Coker and McMillan were ineffective against the Buccaneers, combining for fewer than 10 fantasy points and fewer receiving yards than Darren Waller, who caught one pass.
With Bryce Young having a tougher matchup, the receivers could suffer. Both Coker and McMillan have 30+ point performances, but outside of those games, neither has scored more than 16 points this season.
This feels like a game where both can produce, but not win someone's week for them.
Tetairoa McMillan final projection: 14.4
Jalen Coker final projection: 11.2
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